Unconventionally fast transport through sliding dynamics of rodlike particles in macromolecular networks

Xuanyu Zhang, Xiaobin Dai, Md Ahsan Habib, Lijuan Gao, Wenlong Chen, Wenjie Wei, Zhongqiu Tang, Xianyu Qi, Xiangjun Gong, Lingxiang Jiang () and Li-Tang Yan ()
Additional contact information
Xuanyu Zhang: Tsinghua University
Xiaobin Dai: Tsinghua University
Md Ahsan Habib: South China University of Technology
Lijuan Gao: Tsinghua University
Wenlong Chen: Tsinghua University
Wenjie Wei: Tsinghua University
Zhongqiu Tang: South China University of Technology
Xianyu Qi: South China University of Technology
Xiangjun Gong: South China University of Technology
Lingxiang Jiang: South China University of Technology
Li-Tang Yan: Tsinghua University

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Transport of rodlike particles in confinement environments of macromolecular networks plays crucial roles in many important biological processes and technological applications. The relevant understanding has been limited to thin rods with diameter much smaller than network mesh size, although the opposite case, of which the dynamical behaviors and underlying physical mechanisms remain unclear, is ubiquitous. Here, we solve this issue by combining experiments, simulations and theory. We find a nonmonotonic dependence of translational diffusion on rod length, characterized by length commensuration-governed unconventionally fast dynamics which is in striking contrast to the monotonic dependence for thin rods. Our results clarify that such a fast diffusion of thick rods with length of integral multiple of mesh size follows sliding dynamics and demonstrate it to be anomalous yet Brownian. Moreover, good agreement between theoretical analysis and simulations corroborates that the sliding dynamics is an intermediate regime between hopping and Brownian dynamics, and provides a mechanistic interpretation based on the rod-length dependent entropic free energy barrier. The findings yield a principle, that is, length commensuration, for optimal design of rodlike particles with highly efficient transport in confined environments of macromolecular networks, and might enrich the physics of the diffusion dynamics in heterogeneous media.

Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-44765-7 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-44765-7

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-44765-7

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().